The Indo-Aryan languages, also known as the Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Indo-Aryan peoples.As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Maldives. Moreover, apart …

Greenlandic Norse is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Norse settlements of Greenland until their demise in the late 15th century. The language is primarily attested by runic inscriptions found in Greenland. The limited inscriptional evidence shows some innovations, including the use of initial t for þ, but also the conservation of certain features that …

As a technical term, the "high" in High German is a geographical reference to the group of dialects that forms "High German" (i.e. "Highland" German), out of which developed Standard German, Yiddish and Luxembourgish.It refers to the Central Uplands (Mittelgebirge) and Alpine areas of central and southern Germany; it also includes Luxembourg, Austria, Liechtenstein, and most …

Gothic is an extinct East Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths.It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizeable text corpus.All others, including Burgundian and Vandalic, are known, if at all, only from proper names that survived in historical accounts, and …

Culture and religion. Norse mythology; Norse paganism; Norse art; Norse activity in the British Isles; Vikings; Language. Proto-Norse language, the Germanic language predecessor of Old Norse; Old Norse, a North Germanic language spoken in Scandinavia and areas under Scandinavian influence from c. 800 AD to c. 1300 AD . Old West Norse, the western dialect of …

The Great Vowel Shift was a series of changes in the pronunciation of the English language that took place primarily between 1400 and 1700, beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through this vowel shift, the pronunciation of all Middle English long vowels was changed. Some consonant sounds changed as well, …

Researchers suggest that the basic meaning of the word dís is "goddess". It usually is said to be derived from the Indo-European root *dhēi-, "to suck, suckle" and a form dhīśana. Scholars have associated the Dísir with the West Germanic Idisi, seeing the initial i-as having been lost early in Old or Proto-Norse. Jacob Grimm points out that dís Skjöldunga in the Eddic Helgakviða …

Aside from the names of individuals, Roman era accounts do not contain information about how the early Germanic peoples referred to them, but sixth century Goth scholar Jordanes reported in his Getica that the early Goths had called their seeresses haliurunnae (Goth-Latin). The word also appears in Old English (OE), hellerune ("seeress" or "witch") and in Old High German (OHG) …

Mjölnir (from Old Norse Mjǫllnir) is the hammer of the thunder god Thor in Norse mythology, used both as a devastating weapon and as a divine instrument to provide blessings.The hammer is attested in numerous sources, including the 11th century runic Kvinneby amulet, the Poetic Edda, a collection of eddic poetry compiled in the 13th century, and the Prose Edda, a collection of …

Dalecarlian (dalmål in Swedish) is a group of West Scandinavian languages, and their respective dialects spoken in Dalarna County, Sweden.In the northernmost part of the county (i.e., the originally Norwegian parishes of Särna and Idre), a characteristic dialect reminiscent of eastern Norwegian is spoken.Some Dalecarlian varieties can be regarded as part of the Swedish …